Mikel Arteta has provided an injury update on Bukayo Saka ahead of Arsenal’s match away to Chelsea on Saturday. The Gunners boss has also spoken on the fitness of William Saliba and Leandro Trossard.
Saka has been struggling with a hamstring injury picked up in the Champions League loss away to Lens at the beginning of this month. He came off midway through the first half in France and was forced to miss the following match against title rivals Manchester City.
It ended a run of 87 Premier League games in a row that Saka had participated in, a club record that he broke earlier this season. The 22-year-old also pulled out of the England squad after being assessed by staff at St George’s Park, missing matches against Australia and Italy.
Saliba was also unavailable for France’s games against the Netherlands and Scotland due to a toe problem which he has been suffering with for several weeks. Trossard suffered a hamstring injury during the first half of the win over City and was not fit to join up with the Belgium squad.
But Arteta was unable to reveal whether any of the three will be fit to play at Stamford Bridge when speaking at his pre-match press conference. Asked whether there was any news on the stricken stars, Arteta said: “Not a lot.
“We haven’t had a lot of players. We’re going to do our first training session today and we’ll know more after the session.”
Pushed on Saka, Arteta confirmed the Three Lions star wants to play. He said: “I’m sure he wants to play, yes. I don’t see any players there that don’t want to be in the starting XI.”
Arteta also hopes Saliba’s injury is not one that will continue to plague him throughout the season. He said: “Hopefully not but obviously he has been carrying that for weeks now and we had to use that time to settle.
“We believe it was the best time to do it. It depends how he’s able to train today [whether he can play on Saturday].”
England qualified for Euro 2024 without Saka on Tuesday with a 3-1 win over Italy. Arteta was asked whether England could afford breaks for some of their star players between now and next summer’s tournament.
But he insisted players will always be available for their countries if fit. He said: “Well I don’t know how [England are] going to approach it.
“When our players are fit we are really happy to let them go to the national team. We have always done that and the players want to go.
“It is a great fulfilment and opportunity for them every time they are there. So if players are fit, they’re going to be available to be taken.
“No you don’t [want Saka to burn out] but as a player sometimes you feel much better when playing every three or four days. You can get a knock, you can get an injury, this is a part of the game.”
